Once in a blue moon something wonderful happens and for me this blue moon reminded me of how special my grand daughter, Libby, is.  This week has been focused on the marketing of my new Integrative Nutrition Health Coaching practice. With the arrival of my Mid-Certificate I am now officially able to practice as an Integrative Nutrition Health Coach.  That practice is my new business.  There, I said it, I have a business.  Most businesses have a logo that people identify with when they see it.  Think about a company that you recognize just by their logo.  I was working on my brochure and thought I would like my own logo.  Libby was interested in what I was doing and so I asked her if she would be interested in creating a logo for me.  She said she would and asked what I wanted in it.  I said I wanted a heart, some fruit, and hands.

Libby’s drawing

What she came back with was beyond my wildest dreams.  You can see it here in this scanned copy of her drawing. Libby loved that I scanned the drawing and that I was going to use it in my banner for my blog posts and future newsletter but when she saw it on the website she said it wasn’t smooth enough to be on the website.  She asked if there was an app that would allow her to fix it.  I mentioned Adobe Illustrator and she asked if she could see it.  Fine.  I left her for the evening and when I came back she had gone into Photoshop and was smoothing out the edges and coloring the various fruit inside the L.  I asked where she learned Photoshop and she said, “Oh, I just taught myself today” I almost fell off my chair.  This grandchild is mine!!!!!!  Stay tuned, the finished project is in the pipeline but in the meantime, I love her original drawing so much that I am going to use it.

IIN took us into the area of Food Control for this week’s module.  Our speakers were Mark Bittman and Michelle Simon, JD, MPH.   Mark is a New York Times columnist and an author whose latest book is A Bone to Pick: The Good and Bad News About Food.  His talk was focused on Reclaiming our Food Supply.  We were asked to think about sustainability and whether we can continue as we are or do we need to change.  Every little bit helps.  Libby and I are committed to Meatless Mondays.  This Monday we are having John’s special four mushroom spaghetti sauce over gluten free pasta.  Sound good?  What do you think you could do to help the world’s food supply?

Libby at work

Michelle Simon spoke to us about the food companies that target children in their marketing effort.  Interestingly, Libby and I have talked a great deal about packaged food and labeling.  Libby reads every label on every package.  Of course, she is looking for gluten in the contents but she is also a big fan of the number of ingredients and whether they can be pronounced.  If she doesn’t know what an ingredient is she always asks and if I don’t know we will look it up.  I am pleased to say that there aren’t very many items in this house with ingredients we can’t pronounce.  We also try to make sure there are no more than five ingredients in any item.  Sometimes it is necessary to buy a packaged item and that’s where we really try and get the best we can.  Michelle said she didn’t think children at the age of 10 could understand about food and marketing but I can tell you that Libby does understand.  The reason for Libby’s detective work is that gluten has contributed to her “chicken skin” on her arms and removing it seems to have really helped.  Her arms are so much better.  So at 10 she has learned that you can heal yourself with food.

The summer has flown by.  I cannot believe that it is now August.  The light here at the lake is different in August.  The trees are a duller color, not as bright and crisp.  The cedars get a yellow tinge to them from their seed pods.  Our crab apple tree is covered with hundreds of little crab apples so John will be making crab apple jelly soon.  We are off on our adventure to Lake Temagami to get grandson Jack from Camp Wabun where he has been for six weeks.  We will pick up the truck that we use to haul the boat early tomorrow morning, pull out the boat from Lake Massawippi and pack it and the truck with all our gear.  We plan to leave early morning on Tuesday.  We have been planning the trip all week and this morning Libby checked off all the items on our “Don’t forget list” and we are down to only a few left.   We have the meals planned and the food is ready to be packed.  I think we are ready.

Have a wonderful week everyone.